B'nai B'rith International CEO and Executive Vice President Dan Mariaschin was quoted in TheJerusalem Post article on a bill in the Texas legislature that would prevent the state from doing business with companies that support the BDS movement.

“Comerica should close the account,” said Daniel S. Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith, an organization that testified on Wednesday in Texas in support of the anti-BDS bill. The IADL 'excuses the actions of terrorist organizations and denies Israel’s right to defend itself.'"

Check out the article, that includes testimony from the B'nai B'rith International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy Chair Charles Kaufman given at the Texas legislature in support of the bill.

Texas has been a hotbed of anti-BDS activity in recent days, with the passage of a bill in the Senate on Wednesday that will bar state contracts and investment in companies that boycott Israel, and mounting criticism by Jewish organizations of a local bank’s BDS activity.

Chuck Lindell from the American-Statesman paper reported that the Texas Senate passed the bill opposing BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) by a 25-4 vote and that it was sent to the Texas House of Representatives for a vote. “No senators spoke in opposition to [bill] SB 29 before the vote,” the paper reported, adding that the bill’s author, Sen. Brandon Creighton, said Texas should not do business with companies that participate in the BDS movement.

One such company, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), maintains an account with the Dallas-based Comerica bank.

“Comerica should close the account,” said Daniel S. Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith, an organization that testified on Wednesday in Texas in support of the anti-BDS bill. The IADL ”excuses the actions of terrorist organizations and denies Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Like other financial institutions, Comerica does not have to provide everyone with an account or a loan, he said. “Banks have recognized that they should not truck or have business with these types [BDS] of accounts.”

The IADL supports Iran’s nuclear program and has a chapter in communist North Korea.

Jan Fermon, the secretary-general of IADL and a Belgium-based lawyer, wrote the The Jerusalem Post by email in early March that, “Regarding BDS, IADL supports this movement.”

He added, “IADL engaged in solidarity with the Palestinian people in a very early stage of its existence because it considers the violations of international law and human rights law... by the Israeli authorities as a major obstacle to a just and lasting peace in the region.”

Charles Kaufman, who chairs B’nai B’rith’s International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy, delivered testimony in the Austin legislature in support of the anti-BDS bill. Kaufman, who lives in Texas, said, “In another time, in another place in history, people who wanted to rid the earth of the Jewish people boycotted their businesses. Filled with fear, these good citizens, stripped of their possessions, separated from their families, would subsequently fill boxcars... and you the know rest.

“Today is different, the Jewish people have a state, Israel, their ancestral homeland, a home shared with Christians and Muslims and many other faiths,” he said. “And yet, there are people who still want to rid the earth of Israel and demonize Jews in a shocking reply of antisemitism. The talk of a boycott is back. It is back in the form of an appalling spreading disease called BDS – against Texas’s fourth largest trading partner.

“The BDS movement would like you to believe that this effort will pressure Israel to make existential concessions to enemies who seek its destruction. This is simply the latest in a litany of false narratives that is threatening a democracy and a free world,” said Kaufman.

“Do Texans share the values of individual freedom, tolerance, mutual respect and pluralism with Israel? Absolutely, yes. Do we share a spirit of discovery, enterprise and security with the State of Israel? Yes. Do we need an anti-BDS law in Texas? In the face of a threatening movement? Sadly, yes.”

Joel Schwitzer, the American Jewish Committee’s regional director in Dallas, told the Post: “AJC recognizes that Comerica Bank, and other financial institutions, are clearly free to do business with whomever they choose. AJC urges banks to consider carefully what it means to extend an account to a discriminatory movement like BDS, which seeks to de-legitimize a single country – and that often intersects with antisemitism.”

Wayne Mielke, a spokesman for Comerica, responded to the Post by email, saying, “We don’t discuss customer relationships, and want you to know (again) that we have a robust compliance program at the bank.”

Mielke’s response is “not good enough. It is a legalistic answer,” said Mariaschin. The question for Comerica is: “Do you want to do business with an organization [IADL] that engages in this type of activity?” Mielke declined follow-up Post queries about whether the bank had launched an investigation into the IADL account and about Comerica’s views on BDS.

Itemlive.com (A Massachusetts publication) ran a story on the re-purposing of the Machon School in Swampscott, Mass., into low-income senior housing sponsored by B'nai B'rith. Last year B'nai B'rith was selected to oversee the project and recently unveiled development plans "featuring 38 one-bedroom units and a plan to add a third floor to the former school."

It’s easy to praise Swampscott’s approach to giving new life to the old Machon School. Town Meeting last May picked nonprofit B’nai B’rith to create the Senior Residences at the Machon. B’nai representatives unveiled plans to town residents featuring 38 one-bedroom units and a plan to add a third floor to the former school.

The Board of Selectmen will review and potentially vote on the plans on April 5 and move the building reuse project forward one more step.

Machon is moving ahead as the town continues to map out strategies and seek unity over the future of the Greenwood Avenue former middle school. The former police station also needs to begin moving on the path to reuse.

Under ideal circumstances, Machon’s redevelopment from the current planning stage to construction and the ribbon cutting will be a template for the town to follow in providing new uses for other vacant town properties.

Empty structures are a financial burden and liability for the town and a neighborhood nuisance. Conversely, Machon is an example of a project on its way to improving Swampscott. B’nai has drafted a forward-thinking renovation that includes residential parking and guest parking with housing affordability taken into consideration.

Some town residents, including several neighbors, envisioned the Machon property as open space enhancing the town’s park and recreation resources. But residents are, by all accounts, satisfied with the review and discussion process that preceded Town Meeting’s decision to approve Machon for redevelopment as senior housing.

The old school could eventually become home for town residents who once attended Machon. There is a perfect small town symmetry about a project that preserves a town landmark familiar to generations of former town children who, in their later years, elect to remain in Swampscott.

Providing affordable senior housing helps town families by allowing older residents who sell homes to stay in Swampscott. It also brings into town seniors who set their sights years ago on living in a beautiful community with an ocean view.

Town officials and residents should take pride in viewing Machon’s rebirth as a chance to inspire other communities to take public buildings past their prime and work with organizations like B’nai B’rith to give them new leases on life.

B'nai B'rith International Special Advisor on Latin America Affairs Adriana Camisar wrote a blog on Latin American countries voting for blatantly anti-Israel resolutions within the United Nations and the issue with bloc voting that does not truly reflect many countries' positions on these important issues.

There are areas in which the United Nations has not lived up to the values enshrined in its charter. And in no area is this more visible than in the treatment that this institution gives to the State of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.Israel is criticized at the U.N. more than the world's most atrocious regimes. Much more than Syria, where dictator Bashar al-Assad killed thousands of his own citizens with chemical weapons; much more than North Korea, where people are subject to enslavement, torture, rape and persecution; much more than the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has the worst rates of abuse against women and girls; and much more than Iran, which hangs its homosexuals and murders its dissidents, in addition to being the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism.The U.N.'s obsession with Israel has reached absurd levels, as exemplified by UNESCO's adoption, a few months ago, of resolutions ignoring the Jewish people's ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, the most sacred sites for Judaism.In 2016, the U.N. General Assembly passed 20 resolutions condemning Israel and only six on the rest of the world combined, which is really scandalous. This absurd spectacle is possible due to the automatic majority that the sponsors of these resolutions can get among the diplomats that populate the UN building in New York.Of all the anti-Israel resolutions passed every year by the General Assembly, three are particularly harmful as they re-authorize, year after year, the financing of:

The Division on Palestinian Rights (DPR)—the Palestinians are the only people in the world who have their own division within the Department of Political Affairs of the UN Secretariat)

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)

The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arab Inhabitants in the Occupied Territories (SCIIHRP)

The main goal of these three entities is to demonize the State of Israel and to question its very right to exist.In fact, it was at one of the conferences organized by CEIRPP in 2005 in Paris, where an effort began to recruit NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) willing to work on a global campaign of boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The ultimate goal of the BDS movement is not to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians but to end the existence of the Jewish state, something that clearly contradicts the principles of the U.N. Charter.And yet, all this harmful anti-Israel propaganda is done in the name of the U.N., is funded by the U.N. and is disseminated through the U.N.'s public information system.Fortunately, some important voices are beginning to speak up against this injustice.In his last address to the U.N. Security Council, former Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon denounced the disproportionate number of resolutions, reports and committees against Israel that the U.N. has produced for decades.Most significantly, Nikki Haley, the new U.S. representative to the U.N., strongly criticized the U.N. Security Council’s animosity towards Israel after her first meeting at this body. Haley rightfully described how a Middle East meeting focused almost exclusively on Israel, instead of addressing the region's most pressing issues, such as Hezbollah's illegal operations in Lebanon, Iran's provision of weapons to terrorists, the need to defeat ISIS and the measures that should be taken against Bashar al-Assad in Syria.The countries of Latin America have pretty poor records when it comes to their votes at the General Assembly on Israel-related resolutions. In 2016, the United States and Canada voted “against” 18 anti-Israel resolutions. This is how the countries of Latin America voted on those same resolutions:The countries that make up what we call the Latin American "neo-communist bloc" (that is, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador) voted “in favor” of all of them, and so did Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Costa Rica and Uruguay voted for 17; Argentina and Mexico for 16; Colombia and Peru for 15; Guatemala for 14; Panama for 11; Honduras for 5; and Paraguay for 4.With regard to the three most harmful resolutions, the picture is a little more encouraging. The votes in 2016 divided as follows:Guatemala voted against the three important resolutions, something unprecedented in Latin America and truly commendable.Honduras voted against one of these resolutions and abstained on the other two.Colombia, Panama, Paraguay and Peru abstained on all three (in the case of Paraguay, it is important to highlight its general record since, like Honduras; it abstains on almost all anti-Israel resolutions).Mexico abstained in two and voted for one (this was a step in the right direction since Mexico used to vote in favor of two).Argentina, Costa Rica and Uruguay abstained on one and voted for two (as in previous years).And finally, the neo-communist bloc (Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador) plus Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador voted in favor of all three.It’s worth noting that Chile is the only case in which we can confidently say that its U.N. votes are a reflection of the country's outlook on Israel (which is heavily influenced by its large community of Palestinian descent). In all the other cases, the votes on Israel reflect the countries' general political outlook: the closer they are to the neo-communist bloc (which under the leadership of Venezuela has become dangerously close to Iran in recent years), the more they are inclined to vote against Israel.In this context, it is to be expected that the new governments of the region (many of whom are moving away from populism and showing greater respect for democratic values, as is the cases of Argentina and Brazil) begin to reconsider many of the votes that their diplomats cast at the U.N.In many cases, there is a tendency among diplomats to keep voting in the same way year after year. This is why it is crucial to alert these new governments on the importance of the anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N., so that they can give appropriate instructions to their ambassadors and make sure their votes truly reflect the country's position on these important issues.

JBS spoke with B'nai B'rith International's Special Advisor on Latin American Affairs Adriana Camisar for its In the News program, spotlighting the 25th anniversary of the Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires.

Host Teisha Bader interviews Camisar on the 1992 attack "as well as about the murder of Jewish special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, and the state of the Jewish community in Latin America."

Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (Crif) sent an email and posted to its website about the meeting between a B'nai B'rith International delegation and Crif President Francis Kalifat.

B'nai B'rith President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin detailed their recent meetings at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, discussed the state of the French Jewish community with Kalifat and rising anti-Semitism across Europe.

The Jerusalem Post cited B'nai B'rith International in a story on the U.S. Department of State’s acknowledgement of the importance of the envoy on anti-Semitism and its intentions to fill, not cut, the position.

B’nai B’rith is mentioned as one of the Jewish groups that spoke out against the proposed elimination of the envoy.

The department's acknowledgment comes amid reports that White House officials have no intention to fill the post, despite pressure from Democrats, Republicans and Jewish community leaders.

WASHINGTON – The US secretary of state is responsible by law for appointing a special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism worldwide, a State Department spokesman told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

The department’s acknowledgment comes amid reports that White House officials have no intention to fill the post, despite pressure from Democrats, Republicans and Jewish community leaders to do so.

“The Global Antisemitism Review Act of 2004 established the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism,” the official said. “Per the Act, the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism monitors and combats acts of antisemitism and antisemitic incitement that occur in foreign countries. The special envoy also provides input on antisemitism issues for the annual country reports on Human Rights Practices and International Religious Freedom.”

The position, the State Department official continued, “was created by the Global Antisemitism Review Act. Per the Act, the secretary of state is responsible for appointing a special envoy.”

That legislation, signed into law by George W. Bush, was originally drafted by Republican Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey who, earlier this month, called on the Trump administration to fill the vacancy with haste.

“This isn’t a matter of the president ‘may do this.’ This is a statutorily constituted special envoy,” Smith said. “It’s not a matter of discretion. He must do it.”

Smith said he is worried the “rising tide” in antisemitic activity across the US may soon turn violent.

“It’s a very quick movement from threats and bomb threats to actual terrorist acts where people may die,” he said.

On Tuesday, 167 members of Congress from both parties urged President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to fill the post, citing a measurable rise in antisemitic threats, attacks and acts of vandalism both at home and abroad.

“We view US leadership on combating antisemitism and promoting human rights as pivotal components of American diplomacy and foreign policy,” the bipartisan letter reads. “The Office of the Special Envoy enables the US to show the world its commitment to these ideals, particularly at a time when antisemitism is dangerously on the rise.”

The letter earned support from some of the nation’s largest Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith International. Also supporting the effort are J Street and the Zionist Organization of America – Jewish groups considered within the community as on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

After two months in office, Trump is lagging behind his predecessors in appointing major department deputies, aides and envoys. He has yet to appoint a special envoy to the Middle East peace process; an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom; or a White House liaison to the Jewish community, among several other posts that have historically provided the community with channels to interact with the president’s team.

Those positions, however, are filled at the discretion of the president. The antisemitism post at the State Department is not.

The spokesman told the Post that no one had yet been chosen for the role. “At this time, we have nothing to announce,” the official said.

Since the beginning of the year, at least three American Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated; New York State has recorded an unprecedented spike in Nazi-themed vandalism; and more than 100 bomb threats have been called or emailed in to Jewish Community Centers nationwide. The president, at the top of his first address to a joint session of Congress, condemned the phenomenon as an “evil” with no place in American society.

While lawmakers from both parties praised the president for his remarks, several are now calling for an actionable plan.

A Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism in the House of Representatives, comprised of four Republicans and four Democrats, sent a letter to the president two weeks ago urging a more “comprehensive federal response,” including adequate funding for the civil rights division of the Justice Department; the creation of an interagency mechanism to detect and respond to new threats; and a review of antisemitic activity online.

JTA quoted B’nai B’rith International in an article on the American Health Care Act proposal.

In the story B’nai B’rith says “Changing any portion of the Medicaid funding to a per capita cap proposal would have a significant negative impact on seniors, because capping federal funding for Medicaid would add an additional layer of pressure to state budgets, and put the health care and financial security of millions of older adults at risk.”

B’nai B’rith International, which sponsors low-income housing for the elderly, and the Jewish Federations of North America, which advocates for funds for the poor and the elderly, took aim changes contained in the American Health Care Act, the bill Republican leaders hope to pass as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

“Congress and the Trump Administration appear to be moving quickly to pass potentially devastating cuts to Medicaid,” JFNA said in an action alert sent this week to its constituent groups, urging them to lobby Congress against the cuts.

The organization said the cuts “would greatly impact Jewish federation partner agencies that provide health, long-term care and home and community-based care,” noting that federation partner agencies get about $6 billion from Medicaid each year.

Medicaid is the government program that supports health care for the poor. The bill proposes to cap Medicaid funding to each state according to the number of eligible participants at the beginning of the fiscal year. B’nai B’rith and JFNA said such caps would not take into account changes in enrollment numbers and other unexpected health care cost increases.

“Changing any portion of the Medicaid funding to a per capita cap proposal would have a significant negative impact on seniors, because capping federal funding for Medicaid would add an additional layer of pressure to state budgets, and put the health care and financial security of millions of older adults at risk,” B’nai B’rith said in its March 8 statement.​B’nai B’rith also took aim at a component of the bill that would reduce premiums for younger, healthier Americans, citing studies predicting “low-income adults in their 60s could see dramatic increases in premiums.”

WUSA 9 interviewed B'nai B'rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin on the 40th anniversary of the Hanafi Siege. On March 9, 1977 a dozen gunmen seized three buildings, including B’nai B’rith headquarters, in Washington, D.C.

Mariaschin says of the siege, "It was a precursor to all that we see, not only in the Middle East but here."
​
Scroll down to read the story or watch the interview below or click below to read it on WUSA9.com.

​It was 40 years ago on Wednesday, terrorists took over the District like a bloody scene out of a movie.
But, this was real. Gunmen stormed three buildings in D.C., held nearly 150 people hostage, and killed two people just doing their job, a security guard, and a radio reporter.

It was called the Hanafi Siege, led by the founder of the Hanafi Muslim sect.

It was March 9th, 1977. Gunmen seized control of the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Ave., the Wilson Building (then known as the District Building) and B’nai Brith’s headquarters, back when it was on Scott Circle. They busted in with rifles and machetes, and they didn’t care if people lived or died.

One witness recounted, "They put a 44 magnum in my face, telling me to get up, don’t move, go to the back and lay on the floor. "

Dan Mariaschin, the CEO of B’nai Brith told WUSA9 it was the first major terrorist attack in a major city, "It was a precursor to all that we see, not only in the middle east but here."

The start of this attack started percolating long before, when Hamaas Abdul Khaalis broke with the Nation of Islam and founded the Hanafi sect, its rival. He published a letter critical of them.

Gunmen murdered seven of his family members. Many of them were his children. Four years later, he ordered the 1977 Hanafi Siege, in which WHUR radio reporter Maurice Williams was killed.

Security guard Mark Cantrell was hurt, and later died. Several people were pistol whipped, or shot, including then-Councilman Marion Barry.

The standoff lasted two days. Abdul Aziz, the son-in-law of Khaalis told reporters this about the hostages, "If the demands aren’t met, their heads will be chopped off and thrown out the window."

Khaalis had demands for their release. He wanted the murderers of his family turned over to him, even though the men were arrested and sentenced to life behind bars. He also wanted the film 'Mohammed, Messenger of God' to be pulled from the theaters, because he sad it was disrespectful.

Mariaschin shared, "I think we really need an international effort, a global effort to defeat the terrorist organizations."

On this anniversary, WHUR overnight DJ John Blake remembering that day and his friend, WHUR radio reporter Maurice Williams, "I remember the moment so vividly. The news department is in disarray. Because we couldn't believe it first of all. a young man is gone so quickly."

​Khaalis and several others were sentenced to prison. Khaalis died in prison in 2003.

The Jerusalem Post ran a photo and caption on the B'nai B'rith World Center and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jews who Rescued Fellow Jews During the Holocaust (JRJ) conferring their joint "Jewish Rescuer's Citation" upon Naftali Backenroth-Bronicki who risked his life saving Jews from deportation and extermination during the Holocaust in Drohobych, Poland.

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - It was 40 years ago on Wednesday, terrorists took over the District like a bloody scene out of a movie.

But, this was real. Gunmen stormed three buildings in D.C., held nearly 150 people hostage, and killed two people just doing their job, a security guard, and a radio reporter.

It was called the Hanafi Siege, led by the founder of the Hanafi Muslim sect.

It was March 9th, 1977. Gunmen seized control of the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Ave., the Wilson Building (then known as the District Building) and B’nai Brith’s headquarters, back when it was on Scott Circle. They busted in with rifles and machetes, and they didn’t care if people lived or died.

One witness recounted, "They put a 44 magnum in my face, telling me to get up, don’t move, go to the back and lay on the floor. "

Dan Mariaschin, the CEO of B’nai Brith told WUSA9 it was the first major terrorist attack in a major city, "It was a precursor to all that we see, not only in the middle east but here."

The start of this attack started percolating long before, when Hamaas Abdul Khaalis broke with the Nation of Islam and founded the Hanafi sect, its rival. He published a letter critical of them.

Gunmen murdered seven of his family members. Many of them were his children. Four years later, he ordered the 1977 Hanafi Siege, in which WHUR radio reporter Maurice Williams was killed.

Security guard Mark Cantrell was hurt, and later died. Several people were pistol whipped, or shot, including then-Councilman Marion Barry.

The standoff lasted two days. Abdul Aziz, the son-in-law of Khaalis told reporters this about the hostages, "If the demands aren’t met, their heads will be chopped off and thrown out the window."

Khaalis had demands for their release. He wanted the murderers of his family turned over to him, even though the men were arrested and sentenced to life behind bars. He also wanted the film 'Mohammed, Messenger of God' to be pulled from the theaters, because he sad it was disrespectful.

Mariaschin shared, "I think we really need an international effort, a global effort to defeat the terrorist organizations."On this anniversary, WHUR overnight DJ John Blake remembering that day and his friend, WHUR radio reporter Maurice Williams, "I remember the moment so vividly. The news department is in disarray. Because we couldn't believe it first of all. a young man is gone so quickly."

Khaalis and several others were sentenced to prison. Khaalis died in prison in 2003.